And we're marking the 50th anniversary of the first James Bond film. All week long we've been looking at what makes Bond so Bond.

(SOUNDBITE OF THEME MUSIC)

MONTAGNE: Ah yes, the music. This is one of the most famous themes in movie history. And here's the part that gives it that secret agent feel.

(SOUNDBITE OF GUITAR RIFF)

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

That guitar riff was performed by Vic Flick. In 1962, Mr. Flick was a 25-year-old studio guitarist who was asked to help give the Bond theme more punch. The composer Monty Norman was scrambling to complete the score for the first Bond movie, "Dr. No." He'd scratched out a rough draft but Flick says it felt a little flat.

VIC FLICK: What Monty had written was like duh, duh, duh, dee, dah, dee dee. So we - and, as you know the Bond theme, but nothing sort of dynamic.

MONTAGNE: Then the Bond producers heard the soundtrack to the 1960 teenage angst movie "Beat Girl," and it was just the sound they were looking for.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MONTAGNE: Sound familiar? This theme was written by composer John Barry. That's Flick on guitar. The Bond producers hired Barry to arrange 007's theme and he, in turn, asked Flick to help.

FLICK: When we got it, we looked at it and added to it and changed it. So, you know, the combination of his writing for brass and my guitar playing, it kind of brought the thing to a conclusion and everybody seemed to be quite happy. And it's followed me down for 50 years, so it couldn't have been too bad.

(SOUNDBITE OF GUITAR RIFF)

INSKEEP: To get just the right sound Flick says he had to really dig in to his guitar.

FLICK: To play it normally, suppose it was just a tune, you go...

(SOUNDBITE OF GUITAR RIFF)

FLICK: But to give it some urgency and dynamicism(ph) - or whatever the word is - you know, I just do...

(SOUNDBITE OF GUITAR RIFF)

FLICK: Did you notice the difference?

MONTAGNE: Flick is now 75. He says he reckons John Barry and composer Monty Norman made a fortune off the Bond theme. As for him...

FLICK: I got $15 for recording it.

(LAUGHTER)

INSKEEP: But Flick's says he's not bitter. He did start getting some royalty checks in the mid-1990s. And on Friday, he will perform his famous guitar riff in Los Angeles at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

MONTAGNE: You can hear Vic Flick's theme, and sing along while playing air guitar, at NPRMusic.org.

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